Liverpool vs Wigan preview - Players must learn from 13 minutes of pain - Dalglish

Posted Saturday, March 24, 2012 by PA

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish wants his players to keep the midweek collapse at QPR in mind and treat it as an experience to learn from.

The Reds capitulated with startling ease against the relegation strugglers at Loftus Road, dominating the game and moving 2-0 ahead before conceding three in the final 13 minutes.

Dalglish preferred to focus on the positives of the performance up until the late drama, but he accepts that is something they cannot just erase and pretend never happened.

"Any defeat is difficult to take but it is more difficult to take when you play as well as they did the other night," said the Scot.

"But they have to get over it and take confidence from the 77 minutes they were magnificent.

"Don't cut out the last 13 minutes, just learn from it. We won't be erasing the last 13 minutes from our memory but we will work hard to make sure it doesn't happen again.

"There is no way we are going to dismiss a match. We will never dismiss anything or any games we have played in.

"For us so much of it was excellent the other night. Just putting the final part to the excellent work they have done is probably the most difficult part of anything."

Dalglish brushed aside suggestions his side's hopes of a top-four finish were over as they now trail Tottenham by 12 points with nine matches remaining.

And he insists there is no reason to realign their targets as they prepare to host more relegation strugglers in the form of Wigan.

"Whatever we set out to achieve at the start of the season has not changed," added the Reds boss.

"What we said was we would try our best to win every game and we will continue to do that."

Dalglish sees no reason to make knee-jerk reactions after a ninth defeat of the season, which has left them in a run of four losses in their last five league matches.

"Against Wigan we will do exactly the same," he said. "They are in a bit of a pressure situation - it is the stage of the season when they want to be winning games - but so are we because we have our pride.

"The result was not good for us at QPR but the performance for 70 minutes was excellent, as good as we have had all season.

"We know Wigan will have a bit of possession as they like to keep it and move it about.

"They have played well in the last couple of games against Norwich and West Brom and are undefeated in six games.

"We have to be patient. We can't get frustrated or agitated.

"We will have to work hard to get the ball back off them and when we get it back we have to punish them.

"Hopefully we will put away a lot of the chances we get."

Right-back Martin Kelly is expected to be fit having been forced off with injury at QPR but fellow defenders Glen Johnson and Daniel Agger and forward Craig Bellamy are all out.

Liverpool are still awaiting the results of an assessment on midfielder Charlie Adam's knee problem, sustained at Loftus Road, before deciding whether he can be involved.

Wigan forward Hugo Rodallega remains an injury doubt for the Anfield clash.

Rodallega missed last weekend's 1-1 draw with West Brom due to a knee problem and Latics boss Roberto Martinez says the trip to Anfield may come too soon for the Colombia international to make his return to action.

Midfielder David Jones and goalkeeper Mike Pollitt are not yet available for selection but are nearing the completion of their recoveries from a knee and shoulder complaint respectively.